


Just Shearling and Leather

by Thats_Amore



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gakuen, Alternate Universe - Human, Angst with a Happy Ending, Based on a Conan Gray Song, Christmas Party, Fluff and Angst, Idiots in Love, Kissing, Love Confessions, M/M, Minor Belgium/Spain (Hetalia), Minor Germany/North Italy (Hetalia), Mutual Pining, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:49:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25755385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thats_Amore/pseuds/Thats_Amore
Summary: On the third day of December, Alfred gives Lovino his favorite leather jacket. A couple weeks later, he almost breaks Lovino's heart beyond repair.(Loosely based on the song "Heather" by Conan Gray)
Relationships: America/South Italy (Hetalia), Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 35





	Just Shearling and Leather

**Author's Note:**

> There are two additional pairings that aren't in the tags because they're spoilers for the fic. Go to the end notes if you want to find out what they are.

On the third day of December, Alfred and Lovino walked to school like they usually did ever since the Jones-Williams family moved in next door. Alfred wasn’t old enough to drive, and Lovino’s family wasn’t rich enough to afford another car for their teenage sons. Lovino’s father had driven the first car to the office building where he worked, and his mom was currently using the second car to drive his baby brother Marcello over to the elementary school and to run errands afterwards. That morning, Feliciano had caught a ride with his boyfriend Ludwig, so it was just Lovino, Alfred, and Alfred’s twin, Matthew.

Matthew hummed quietly as the trio headed off to school, and Lovino gave him a peeved glare. He was envious of how Matthew never seemed to be affected by Chicago winters. Alfred would joke that Matthew was obviously part polar bear, but it was more likely he had inherited the cold tolerance from their Canadian mother.

Lovino was currently sipping on the coffee Alfred had brought along in a thermos for him (which was finally decent after more than a year of Lovino complaining that it tasted like shit). But the coffee was not enough to warm him up this morning, nor was his sweater, gloves, hat, or scarf. He shivered and quickly gulped down the remainder of the coffee as a particularly bitter wind blew past them.

Alfred grabbed his upper arm. “Vino, you look miserable! Are you okay?” Matthew turned back to give him a concerned look too.

“I’m fine, d-d-damn it.” His teeth might have been chattering, but he didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.

Alfred frowned like he was thinking something over. Suddenly, he took off his leather jacket and handed it to Lovino. “Here. Maybe this will help.”

“G-grazie.” Lovino handed the empty thermos back to Alfred and put on the bomber jacket, which was way too big for him. The sleeves fell a little too far down his hands, and the hem fell lower on him than it would have on Alfred. It smelled like Axe body spray and hamburgers, which probably clashed with the Italian cologne Lovino had put on this morning, but Lovino couldn’t bring himself to care. The scent was comforting, and some stupid, delusional part of Lovino felt flattered that Alfred had given him the leather jacket he liked to wear all the time.

Alfred smiled at him with pearly white teeth. “Feel warmer?”

“Yeah.” His face felt a lot warmer with Alfred looking at him that way, but hopefully he could pass his blush off as a reaction to the weather.

His stomach swooped as Alfred casually put an arm around his shoulders. “I’m glad.”

It was a miracle Lovino managed to hear anything else Alfred or Matthew said for the rest of the walk, with his heartbeat thumping so loudly in his own ears. He didn’t swoon into Alfred’s arms (as nice as that might have been in theory), and he even managed to maintain his normal level of sarcasm. He did have a pleased grin on his face instead of his customary irritated scowl, but neither brother seemed to notice the difference.

When they arrived at the school gates, Alfred’s arm dropped away from his shoulders. Lovino felt a little disappointed, but he wasn’t surprised. It’s not as if Alfred could hold onto him forever. His locker and his first class of the day were both on the other side of the building. Even if he could walk him to class, Alfred probably wouldn’t want people at school to start speculating that the talented center fielder who had helped their baseball team win the state championship last year was gay and dating the grumpy Italian brother. No straight guy, even one as kind as Alfred, would appreciate having false rumors spread about his sexuality. Of course, Lovino had no reason to believe Alfred might be anything other straight. Lovino had told Alfred he was bi a month after they met, and Alfred had never made a similar admission. If Alfred was into guys, he would have probably said something by now, right?

To prevent false rumors from spreading, Lovino tried to give the jacket back to Alfred as soon as they entered the building. “You can have your jacket back,” Lovino said, removing it after he took his backpack off. “I won’t get cold inside the building.”

Alfred shook his head and didn’t move to take the jacket when it was offered to him. “But you’ll need it later, right? Besides, it looks better on you anyway.” He winked in an incredibly cheesy way, and Matthew snorted at him.

“C’mon hoser, we don’t need another tardy from Mrs. Karpusi,” Matthew said, pulling his brother along.

Alfred laughed and glanced back at Lovino, who was staring at him with wide, incredulous eyes. “You can keep the jacket as long as you want!” he yelled towards Lovino. “Consider it yours, Lovi!”

He knew it was just a shortening of his first name (and for fuck’s sake, his family called him Lovi, so it wasn’t romantic _at all_ ), but Lovino still smiled shyly at the ground as soon as Alfred rounded the corner and could no longer see him. He felt warm and giddy, even if he was too reticent to show it the same way someone like Feliciano would.

Lovino shrugged back on the jacket and ignored the curious whispers and stares directed at him as he transferred some of his books to his locker. The stares were even more obvious when he entered his first period class and during the morning announcements, but Lovino was too busy doodling a picture of Alfred to care about his classmates’ mistaken assumptions.

* * *

Lovino shared second period with Alfred, who didn’t seem to notice the way people stared at them when they paired up for the project in World History. It wasn’t unusual for them to partner up together since they were friends and neighbors and since Alfred was an excellent student, even if he was more known for his athletic ability. But as they sat together, coming up with ideas for the project and occasionally goofing off, Lovino felt even more eyes staring at him than he had during first period. It was a little disconcerting to be the focus of so much attention, simply because his classmates assumed there was something more going on between him and Alfred than a friendship.

But by far, the weirdest part of the day was lunch. Alfred and Matthew didn’t share lunch with Lovino, but he did have lunch with his little brother, who immediately hugged Lovino and squealed in his ear as soon as he saw him.

“I’m so happy for you, fratello!”

Lovino growled and shoved his brother away from him. “There’s nothing for you to be happy for me _about_ , idiota.”

“But you’re wearing Alfredo’s jacket!”

Lovino rolled his eyes and sat down in his normal seat next to Antonio. “Stellar observation skills as usual, Feliciano. Al gave it to me because I was cold when I was walking to school this morning. That’s all.”

“He told you the jacket was yours in the hallway,” Gilbert said. “Everybody’s been talking about it.”

Lovino rolled his eyes and stabbed into his caprese salad. “Don’t the people at this school have more interesting things to talk about?”

Erzsébet shrugged from her seat next to Gilbert. “Not really. You and Alfred are the most interesting thing that’s happened today.”

“Except that nothing happened, according to Lovino,” Ludwig pointed out. Lovino was disturbed that Ludwig was the only reasonable person at the table. He hated that he was agreeing with Feli’s macho potato, of all people. He also hated that his little brother was pouting at Ludwig like he had crushed his hopes and dreams. Feliciano was the only one who was supposed to know how Lovino felt about Alfred, but Feli was broadcasting it to the entire table with his stupid face.

“You don’t mind people thinking you’re with Alfred, do you?” Antonio asked quietly.

Lovino bent his head over his salad and answered as evasively as he could. “That’s not the point. Al would mind. I’m pretty sure he’s straight.”

“Is he?” Emma wondered. “I don’t think he’s gone on a date since he moved here, and it’s not like he hasn’t had plenty of opportunities.”

Lovino sighed. He had never noticed Alfred’s sky blue eyes fixated on anyone else, and it wasn’t like Lovino hadn’t been paying attention (if anything, he’d been paying too much attention). A long time ago, Alfred had told him that he wouldn’t date anyone unless he actually felt something for them beyond friendship. Alfred believed it would be cruel to string someone along when he didn’t feel that way about them. Maybe Al was picky, or maybe he was somewhere on the ace spectrum. He might be completely asexual and aromantic, and that meant he wouldn’t want to date anyone regardless of their gender, including Lovino. Alfred not clamoring to go out with one of his many female admirers didn’t mean Lovino had even a sliver of a chance.

Francis gazed thoughtfully into the distance. “I have known Alfred for a long time. He is not the type to engage in romantic gestures. And before today, I have never seen him give his favorite jacket to anyone. Not even Matthieu.”

Lovino glanced up at Francis. He was Alfred and Matthew’s cousin, so he would know Alfred’s inclinations better than anyone. Francis met his gaze and smirked like he knew what Lovino was thinking. Feli grinned at him idiotically, and Lovino scowled as he went back to eating his lunch. His friends (and friends of friends) were annoying as fuck.

Without Lovino participating, the conversation quickly moved away from him and Alfred. Lovino ate his lunch and tried not to get his hopes up from what Francis had said. He didn’t entirely succeed.

* * *

That weekend, they worked on their World History project at Alfred’s house. Lovino paused in the middle of making their poster. “Hey, Al?”

“Yeah?”

“You… um… you know that people assume we’re together now, right? Because you gave me your jacket and let me wear it all the time?”

Alfred blinked up at him. “They do? That’s kind of weird.”

Lovino swallowed and glanced down at the half-completed poster. “Does it bother you? I wouldn’t blame you if it did.” But the last thing Lovino needed to hear was how much Alfred didn’t like him and never could.

Alfred’s next words took his breath away. “Not really. I didn’t know it was supposed to bother me.”

When Lovino warily looked up at him, Alfred’s eyes were twinkling behind his glasses as he gave him a guileless smile. Dio, the things that boy could do to him. And of course, he was so innocent and trusting that he had no idea. Lovino planned to keep it that way for the sake of their friendship.

With some effort, Lovino forced his gaze back down to their notes, but he was too close to hide his red face from Al. “Dumbass burger bastard,” he grumbled to himself.

Alfred had the temerity to ruffle Lovino’s hair. “Love ya too, Lovi.”

Lovino wasn’t sure if he wanted to kiss him or punch him. He did neither and instead directed a flustered glare at Alfred, who giggled in response. It took every ounce of Lovino’s willpower to keep from leaning in to feel that laughter against his own mouth. He let out a sharp huff of exasperation and got back to work.

* * *

A couple weeks later, the semester had just ended. Everyone had finished final exams, and Christmas was right around the corner. Per annual tradition, Timo Väinämöinen hosted a Christmas party at his house the following weekend, and he extended invitations even to people like Lovino that he only knew peripherally at best.

Like most of the high school parties he had attended, there were a lot of teenagers making out in the living room (or doing things in the rooms upstairs Lovino would rather not know about). Lovino snorted as he walked past Emma and Antonio kissing on the couch. In middle school, when he developed the crush on Antonio that had helped him figure out he was bi, seeing Antonio and Emma together would have hurt a lot more than it did now. There were times when he still felt twinges of inadequacy around them, particularly since he’d had a crush on Emma at one point too, but those feelings were more related to Lovino’s self-esteem issues than a desire to be with either one of them.

Lovino got a glass of punch and took a sip, only to grimace when he tasted almost pure vodka (and cheap, crappy vodka at that). Whoever had bought alcohol with a fake ID and spiked the punch couldn’t even bother to pay for the good stuff. Lovino walked into the kitchen to drain his glass and get some water to rinse the taste of shoddy alcohol out of his mouth.

In the kitchen, his brother was leaning up against a wall and laughing breathlessly as his potato bastard boyfriend gave him a hickey on the neck. Ugh, gross. “I think I’m about to vomit,” Lovino commented pointedly in their direction.

Ludwig ignored him entirely, and so did Feliciano. Lovino dumped the glass of punch in the sink and drank a small glass of water, and then he was ready to head back out to the living room.

When he returned, he heard people wolf whistling and making a lot of noise about something. Several people blocked his view of whatever it was, including that really tall guy from Sweden, so Lovino had to push past them to see what was going on.

Instantly, he’d wished he hadn’t.

Because there was Kateryna Branginskaya kissing Alfred under the mistletoe. Her hand was clenched in the fabric of that bizarre, blinking monstrosity Alfred called a Christmas sweater, and her eyes were closed as she tilted her face up towards him. Alfred must have been taken by surprise since his eyes were open, but he didn’t seem to be backing away.

It took less than a second for Lovino’s heart to shatter inside his chest. He abruptly turned around and rushed out of the room as quickly as he could. The tears in his eyes made it difficult to see where he was going, but luckily nobody paid attention to him as he blindly made his way back to the kitchen. He spotted a door to the backyard and ran towards the temporary solitude it offered. He slammed the door behind him, not even processing the fact that his brother and his brother’s macho potato boyfriend were in the kitchen and had witnessed him making a scene.

Timo’s backyard was decorated with Christmas lights and tacky animatronic reindeer. In his current state, Lovino hated Christmas cheer more than the Grinch ever had. Since he was alone and couldn’t humiliate himself, Lovino finally gave in to the wracking sobs that had built up inside him and made ugly, awful sounds as bitter tears streamed down his face.

When he wiped at his eyes, he felt the leather sleeve of Alfred’s jacket brushing over his cheek. Lovino cried harder. He loved this dumb jacket that was too big for him, but now it reminded Lovino of how foolish he’d been. Alfred only gave him the jacket because he was too kind to let his friend shiver in the cold. He’d probably want it back soon so that he could give it to Katya. His _girlfriend_.

The door burst open, but Lovino didn’t turn around to see who it was. He didn’t care, and no matter who it was, he couldn’t face them.

He recognized the clingy embrace as Feliciano’s. “Fratello, what is it?” he asked urgently. “What’s wrong?”

Lovino sniffled and managed to speak between ragged gasps for air. “Alfred and Katya. Kissing. I hate mistletoe.”

Feliciano squeezed him tighter. “Oh Lovi, I’m so sorry.”

“I’m such a fucking moron!” Lovino yelled, slicing through the air with his hands. “Alfredo would never like me, and I was stupid to think he ever could.”

“You shouldn’t say that. I thought he liked you too, especially when he gave you his jacket.”

Lovino shook his head. “Nobody I’ve liked has ever returned my feelings. I think I’m cursed. Or maybe I’m just too defective to be loved.” He remembered how it felt when Emma turned him down, how her kind smile made him feel guilty for even asking her on a date. He also recalled the apologetic look on Antonio’s face as he explained that he liked guys too but just didn’t see Lovino that way. It had only been a month after Antonio’s rejection when Alfred and Matthew moved into the house next door. Lovino spent a lot of time with the twins that summer, Alfred in particular. Alfred was constantly asking Lovino to hang out with him and go to things like the local amusement park and the movies together, and his boundless energy made it difficult for Lovino to feel miserable. When Antonio and Emma started dating at the beginning of his freshman year, Lovino was surprised by how little it hurt. He didn’t admit it to himself for months, but he had moved on so easily because he was already starting to fall for Alfred.

“There’s nothing wrong with you, Lovi,” Feliciano said. “I know you’ll be happy someday.”

Lovino released a forlorn sigh. “Yeah right. Maybe when I quit being a dumbass in love with a straight guy. Maybe then.” Emma’s and Antonio’s rejections had hurt, but not like this. Lovino had only cried for Alfred. Before tonight, Alfred had made Lovino feel happier than anyone ever had. Lovino didn’t know how to get over him.

The door to the backyard opened suddenly, and Lovino and Feliciano turned to see who it was. Lovino trembled when he saw Alfred walking towards them, followed by Ludwig. Both of them had serious, determined expressions on their faces. Lovino glanced desperately at the fence, mentally calculating if he could escape his brother’s hold and hop it before Alfred reached him.

Too late. Within seconds, Alfred was there, and Ludwig was prying his little brother away from him, leaving Lovino defenseless. “Come on, Feli,” he said. “I think they need to talk alone.”

“Ve, if you’re sure.” Feliciano trusted his boyfriend, so he released Lovino and let Ludwig guide him back towards the house. Lovino shot his brother a betrayed look, and Feliciano seemed apologetic, but he made no move to go back towards Lovino.

When the door closed behind Feliciano and Ludwig, Alfred sighed. “I guess I need to explain what happened in the living room, huh?”

Lovino directed his gaze towards Rudolph’s blinking red nose rather than look his best friend in the eye. “You don’t have to. I already got the gist. You like her, she likes you, and ten years from now, you’ll live in a house with a white picket fence, a dog, and 2.5 perfect Ukrainian-American children. Tell me where I’m wrong here.”

Alfred chuckled. “Most of it, actually. I’d like a dog and maybe some kids when I’m older, but I’m not gonna have them with Katya. We don’t like each other that way.”

Lovino folded his arms over his chest and glared up skeptically at Alfred, who was smiling gently at him. “You just go around kissing people you don’t like?”

“She kissed me. And only because she had too much to drink and mistook me for Mattie. First time that’s ever happened. It’s usually the other way around.”

Lovino was embarrassed now. “Oh. I didn’t know that.”

“You clearly didn’t know a lot of things.” Alfred stepped in closer and gently wiped away the tear tracks on Lovino’s cheeks with his thumbs. “If you’d known why I was really waiting under the mistletoe, you wouldn’t have been out here crying in the backyard with your brother.”

“I… I wasn’t crying, damn it!”

Alfred grinned at Lovino in that strange, overly affectionate way that always made Lovino feel like he’d just been spinning in circles for hours. “I was waiting for you. But you went back to the kitchen, and Katya found me first.”

“You were waiting for me?” Lovino whispered. “But why? That doesn’t make any sense.”

Alfred shrugged. “It makes sense to me. I’ve pretty much been in love with you since day we met, but it took me a while to figure that out since you’re the only person I ever liked. I’ve wanted to kiss you for ages, but I didn’t know how to bring it up without making our friendship awkward, and mistletoe seemed like the perfect opportunity.”

Lovino was crying again, but from happiness this time. He had a bright, delirious grin on his face as he smacked Alfred lightly on the shoulder. “You dumbass! You could’ve just asked instead of using a plant as an excuse!”

Alfred glanced overhead then looked back down at Lovino with a warm smile. “Well, there’s no mistletoe here, so I guess I’m asking. No excuses this time.”

Lovino nodded rapidly, and he closed his eyes and held his breath in anticipation as Alfred started to lean in. The kiss was just a simple pressure of Alfred’s mouth on top of his, but it made Lovino feel weightless and warm from the top of his head down to the tip of his toes. He liked the sensation of a fuzzy Christmas tree with blinking lights against his chest, and he liked the feeling of Alfred’s glasses pressing into the corner of his eye. He liked everything about the kiss.

Alfred pulled away eventually, but he was still holding onto Lovino’s face, and Lovino’s arms were still wrapped around his middle. He kept his eyes closed for a few seconds, just breathing in the same air as Alfred, and Al let out a happy sigh.

“God, you’re gorgeous. I mean, you’re gorgeous all the time, especially when you’re wearing my jacket, but after you’ve just been kissed, it’s like… wow.”

Lovino opened his eyes and snorted at Alfred’s less than eloquent words. “You’re not so bad yourself, caro. There’s a reason half the girls at World Academy are infatuated with you.”

Alfred smirked and started playing with Lovino’s hair. “The other half are infatuated with you, along with a few guys. I had a lot of competition. It was pretty intimidating, even for a hero like me.”

“I guess they’ll be disappointed we’re no longer available, then.” There was an uncertain quality to Lovino’s voice. He didn’t know how much Alfred wanted other people to know about them.

Alfred nodded. “Some of them might already be disappointed. I sort of came out to everyone tonight. When I first told Katya I didn’t like her, she was crying really hard, so then I started trying to explain how I wasn’t 100 percent sure, but thought I might be gay. She figured out I wasn’t Mattie, and her tears dried up right away.”

Lovino laughed. Only Alfred would come out of the closet in such a ridiculous, public fashion. He bit his lip and ran his hands up and down the sides of Al’s abomination of a Christmas sweater. “I love you, idiota.” He wasn’t sure if Alfred could see in the darkness, but right now, he was probably as red as Rudolph’s glowing nose.

“I love you, too,” Alfred declared happily. “And if I’m gonna have kids with anybody, it’s probably gonna be you. We’d have to do some kind of adoption or surrogacy thing, though, since we’re both guys.”

Lovino buried his burning face in Alfred’s shoulder and groaned. “Tesoro, we are way too young to think about that, and it’s way, way too soon. We haven’t even officially started dating yet.” But the thought was nice, much nicer than Lovino was ready to say. Lovino was glad that Alfred had already imagined them having a _future_ together. Whatever doubts he might have had from seeing Alfred kissing a girl a few minutes ago were completely wiped away by his casual comment.

“Well, wanna go back inside and make things official? Since that’s the first step.”

Lovino leaned up and kissed his cheek. “There’s only so long I can stand to stay outside in this weather.”

They walked back to the house hand-in-hand. Alfred hummed “Let It Snow” to himself and swung their hands back and forth as they walked, and Lovino rolled his eyes and let him show off.

They barely made it inside the door before Feliciano accosted Lovino with one of his trademark clingy hugs. “I’m so happy for you, fratello!”

He patted Feli on the back rather than immediately trying to shove him away. “I’m happy for me too.”

Feliciano gave Alfred a hug that was just as tight as the one he’d given his brother. “I’m thrilled you and my brother are finally together. But if you ever make Lovino cry again…” He pulled away and leveled Alfred with a look that was probably supposed to be intimidating.

Gil, who was also in the kitchen, did his strange laugh at the uncharacteristically threatening tone in Feliciano’s voice, and Lovino glared at his brother. “We just got together, fratellino. He doesn’t need my family to scare him off right away.”

Alfred grinned at Lovino. “Aw, honey, I’m pretty sure nothing could scare me away from you.”

Damn it, he was blushing again, and he was pretty sure everyone in the kitchen could see it with the fluorescent overhead lights shining down on them. He could feel that albino bastard smirking smugly at him. Lovino went to the fridge to get a soda, and he overheard Alfred promising Feliciano that he would never make Lovino cry that way again.

He heard a high-pitched giggle and glanced in the direction of the living room. Katya was standing in front of Matthew, and they were both smiling bashfully at each other. Silently, Lovino conceded that they were adorable together, certainly more adorable than Alfred and Katya, which was something he would hopefully never have to witness again.

Feliciano and Gil wandered out to the living room, and Lovino grabbed Alfred’s arm before he could follow them. He leaned up to kiss him square on the mouth and pushed him back up against some random counter. Alfred moaned into the contact, and Lovino only broke the kiss when he needed to breathe.

Alfred was blushing heavily and panting for oxygen afterwards. “What the heck was that for?”

“Just… don’t kiss anyone else tonight, okay? I don’t care if you get caught under the mistletoe again.”

Alfred put his arm around his shoulder and nuzzled Lovino’s temple. “If you keep kissing me like that, I’m not gonna want to kiss anyone else for the rest of my life.”

Lovino laughed as Alfred led them out to the living room. “That works for me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> The pairings are accidental America/Ukraine and Canada/Ukraine. I love CanKraine with my whole heart.


End file.
